2002 Honda Accord LX 2.2 Liter I-4 from North America

Summary:

8th Honda, maybe my last.

Faults:

Nothing went wrong with this car, but it just doesn't feel like a Honda. It reminds me of my Taurus, only with a 4 cylinder.

General Comments:

It's been great, but not as great as I'd hoped.

It's gutsy for a four banger and gets great mileage for it's size.

I've had nothing, but problems from Honda since the late 90's and this was my last straw that I bought.

I've been a Honda fan for life, and my family is on their 7th Honda. We've had Honda's since 1983, and now I drive a GM car to work instead of my Accord. I've had 7 Hondas, and 3 of the last 4 really sucked.

#1) 1983 Accord, perfect for it's whole life. Then it was totalled. Only 8300 miles, not long enough to know if it was good.

#2) 1983 Accord again, drove until 1993 as a daily driver, 344K miles. That's where my love for Honda grew. It was a perfect car for school and anything for that matter.

#3) 1992 Acura Legend. Beautiful, new fancy toy! Wonder car, and super reliable. Drove until 1999 with 107K miles. Totalled by car who didn't stop behind me.

#4) Then my Civic (1999 LX), my first terrible Honda. No electric power on somedays. The battery was fine, but the car wouldn't do a thing when I turned the ignition. The engine had a lot of problems with starting and maintaining running status. Lots of sputtering and backfiring. Plugs and wires didn't do a damn thing. Check engine light was on constantly, and the gas cap was always tight. Sometimes my sister had to ask someone else to open it because she couldn't undo it herself. Airbag light wouldn't go off, etc. It was a nightmare. Drove until 94K miles, dad wanted to buy it from me, sold 2002.

#5) 2002 Acura RSX. Good Honda, reliable and GREAT gas mileage. Only managed 18K miles before I sold it, needed something more practical.

#6) 1981 Civic, 89K miles. (Bought during the time I was looking for another car.) It had a lot of problems, but was old at the same time. It was just a frustrating car to own.

#7) 2004 Accord (new family car), CRAP CRAP CRAP, RATTLES, RATTLES, RATTLES!!! It had problems like, not starting, not running, not moving, not shifting... on and on. Occasionally it wouldn't start, period. Sometimes it would start and then stall and afterwards, it wouldn't start again. A few times it wouldn't shift out of 1st gear unless I manually used the stick up and down. Then, my biggest problem was the car not moving at all. It was in Drive and everything, but no movement. Reverse was fine, but forward, blargh!!! Sold for a decent amount of money.

My 8th Honda better be charm or else I'm using my GM car as a weekday and weekend driver. The Accord is on a trial period and is only seeing occasional use.

It's been a good car so far (500 miles), so I'm praying it holds it's ground.

It gets decent gas mileage, has acceptable power, and looks okay. It's a cheap LX with the hubcaps and cloth seats, so the build quality looks absent.

The ride is loud, like all my Honda's have been. No surprise there.

The car rattles a lot. Little rattles all over the place. Very annoying.

It's a good car for the money, despite the mark up on Honda's. I just hope it holds up in the long run, because I've been let down so many times by Honda.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 20th February, 2006

2002 Honda Accord EX v6 Coupe 3.0L V6 from North America

Summary:

Honda Headache

Faults:

The SRS light randomly pops on. The dealer asked me if I had a cell phone on the seat. I didn’t. Sounds like a problem if a cell phone can set off a SRS light. They have replaced the alternator twice, SRS control module 3 times. I even had the entire gauge cluster replaced and the mileage reads 0, but I have a sticker in the door jam stating the mileage. The light still comes on. I asked the dealer if I were to get into an accident would the airbags go off, he replied “wear a seatbelt”. I called Honda many times with no reply. I have contacted a lemon attorney. The brakes went out at 20,000. $400 for new pads all around at the dealer. Small complaint, but still annoying: The steering wheel controls only work half of the time. The plastic creaks by the windshield over bumps. The shocks squeak over bumps when it is cold. The trunk plastic broke that covers the solenoid. The dealer told me the plastic broke because I put luggage in the trunk, what the heck is a trunk for?

General Comments:

I searched on the internet, apparently I'm not the only one with the SRS problem. I bought the top of the line EXv6 accord fully loaded thinking it would be reliable.. Not so much. MY 10 year old Acura legend was better built than this accord. At the time I couldn’t find a better new car for the money.. For used by an Acura TL. My parents have one and I love it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 7th February, 2006

7th Feb 2006, 19:32

My light also goes on once in a while in my 2002 Acura (Honda) TL type S. If you tap into the drivers door while aggressively driving cornering etc. or I notice when my daughter leans against the passenger door during routine driving it sometimes comes on. Mine resets itself after shutting down. These cars are great. I owned Accords and a Legend as well.